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undigested food in BM

6K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Jackie 
#1 ·
After a dinner or raw carrots, raw spinach, regular TV dinner, and a bowl of fiber one last night, I passed undigested spinach at third am bowel movement. (No suppositories, etc.)Third movement was close to water.If I switch to no FiberOne and use Metamucil, I don't go much at all.Now what?IBS C since 1996------------------Charter Counselor of the United Federation of Planets
 
#2 ·
It is fairly normal to have some undigested material in the stool. The looser the stool the more noticable it is.Generally when you chew more, less undigested stuff gets through.Some commonly undigestibles, like whole kernel corn, that are easily visible in formed stools can be used to do a GI transit time experiment at home.K.------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html
 
#4 ·
I have seen undigested food in my stool ALL of my life.PRE IBSDuring IBSand In remission fro IBS.Particularly certain things like raw veggies or whole kernal corn.Now During IBS I looked at my stools a heck of alot more, but that's pretty normal, and most of us generally don't do alot of observational work on something that isn't doing something funny.Undigested food is more noticable in loose stools than it is in formed stools, so that can make a big difference in how much you notice it if after the onset of IBS your stools are looser than they were befor IBS.Generally one way of studying animals in the field, particuarly elusive animals that hide from cameras and reseachers is to find their stool and pull it apart and identify what they were eating from the undigested bits that are in it.K.------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html
 
#5 ·
Yup, I agree with K. I frequently notice undigested food in my stool, and I do think it is because we IBS'ers are always "looking" at what we have done.
. I would be willing to bet that most of us look in the toilet bowl when we are through. So-called "normal" people just "go" ,"wipe" and "flush" and never even bother to look the way we do. So I would say, don't worry about it. IBSers have "weird" poop and I think we just have to face it. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's soft, sometimes it's water, sometimes it's brown, sometimes it's tan, sometimes it's yellow, sometimes it's green and lots of times it's mixed with mucous etc. So don't worry about what you see in the bowl...as long as you don't see blood, I wouldn't give it a second thought.
------------------"Remember To Stop and Smell the Roses"Rose (C-type)
 
#6 ·
There have been times when I've been so obsessed with my bowel movements and what they look like that I never flushed without a really good look. I noticed these undigested bits of foods and just KNEW it meant something and started obsessing about it to my husband. He put my mind at ease by calling me into the potty to inspect HIS movements for a few times.
Sure enough, there were undigested bits there, too, and he's got the most normal bowel movements of anyone I know. So, I was no longer allowed to obsess about that and had to move onto other things. Which, of course, was no problem at all.
 
#7 ·
Thanks to all who responded!------------------Charter Counselor of the United Federation of Planets
 
#8 ·
Undigested food in stool can be a sign of infection. Parasites/bacteria unpset the normal digestion of food. They live on undigested food particles. Under the microscope they contain vacuoles of food.David R Mack, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Eastern OntarioDientamoeba fragilis:"....The cytoplasm frequently contains numerous food vacuoles." http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic563.htm Jackie
 
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